NYT to Hillary: ‘Mrs. Clinton, Show Voters Those Transcripts’

Oooooooo, the New York Times, which has endorsed Hillary Clinton and whose coverage of Hillary is generally deep in the tank, just published an editorial under the headline Mrs. Clinton, Show Voters Those Transcripts.

This is kind of a big deal, given the Times’ overall stance on Hillary, and may show how even some of her staunchest supporters are starting to fear that her layers of lies and prevarications just might affect her candidacy. Perhaps after last night’s GOP debate they are imaging what candidate Trump will do to her with all this ammunition.

The Times stated:

“Everybody does it,” is an excuse expected from a mischievous child, not a presidential candidate. But that is Hillary Clinton’s latest defense for making closed-door, richly paid speeches to big banks, which many middle-class Americans still blame for their economic pain, and then refusing to release the transcripts.

The Times also summarized Hillary’s long list of explanations/excuses/promises:

— In November, she said her paid talks for the Wall Street firms were part of helping them rebuild after the 9/11 attacks, which “was good for the economy and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists.”

— In a debate with Bernie Sanders on February 4, Clinton was asked if she would release transcripts, and she said she would “look into it.”

— Later in February, asked in a CNN town hall forum why she accepted $675,000 for speeches to Goldman Sachs, she got annoyed, shrugged, and said, “That’s what they offered,” adding that “every secretary of state that I know has done that.”

— At another town hall, on February 18, a man in the audience pleaded, “Please, just release those transcripts so that we know exactly where you stand.” Mrs. Clinton had told him, “I am happy to release anything I have when everybody else does the same, because every other candidate in this race has given speeches to private groups.”

— On Tuesday, Clinton further complained, “Why is there one standard for me, and not for everybody else?” using her go-to excuse that she herself is wronged, that she is the victim.

The editorial concludes:

Public interest in these speeches is legitimate, and it is the public — not the candidate — who decides how much disclosure is enough. By stonewalling on these transcripts Mrs. Clinton plays into the hands of those who say she’s not trustworthy and makes her own rules. Most important, she is damaging her credibility among Democrats who are begging her to show them that she’d run an accountable and transparent White House.

The whole editorial is worth your read as a marker of where things stand at present for Hillary.